Headlight.



R. H. WELLES.

HEADLIGHT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 19,1907.

Patented May 25, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

s'rann'r rrrcn RICHARD H. WELLES, OF KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO THE BADGER BRASS MPG.

(10., OF KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

HEADLIGHT.

Application filed September 19, 1907.

To all who-m may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD H. runs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kenosha, in the county of Kenosha and State of ll'isoonsin, have invented certain neiv an d useful Improvements in Headlights, of which. the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in headlights and refers more specificall to im movements in headlights of that type which are employed for lighting the roadway in ad vance of vehicles or boats the particular em bodimentshown herein being suitable for use in connection with automobiles.

The salient object of the present invention is to provide in conjunction with aheadlight an auxiliarw mechanism whereb the normal light may be modified and s0 changed as to eliminatethe glaredue to the beam of parallel or approximately parallel ravs.

Subsidiary objects of the invention are to provide in conjunction with the usual mechanism of a headlight a device performing the GUl'ifblDGtl functions of a shutter and a diffusing reflector, and which may be temporarily thrown into operation and withdrawn from operative posit-ion at will; to provide such a mechanism of simple, inexpensive and effective construction which retul'ns by gravity to its normal or inoperative position and may be mannaflv thrown into operative position at will, and in general to provide a simple and improved mechanism of'thc oharv actor referred to.

'Ihc invention will be rcadifv understood from the following description, reference being had to the accompanving drawings, in

Figure l is averticaf axial sectional view of a headlight equippedwith m v invention; Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

In headlights as now conunonljv organized for-usein connection with automobiles, locomotives, boats, etc, both the light which emanates directly from the front side of the burner and that which emanates from the rear side thereof is utilized; the latter being reflected, and often refracted, by a suitable reflector or combined reflector and refracfor located in rear of the. light. The prcsont invention has to do with hoadli; character, and, as will hereinafter appear, is capable of embodiment in a construction Specification of Letters Patent.

:ls of this Patented May 25, 1909.

Serial No. 393,624.

which uses a reflector devoid of rcfractingr means, or, as shown in the preferred embodiment illustrated, may be utilized with a refracting reflector.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates as a whole the headlight casing or barrel, which is shown as consisting of a c vlindric side wall 111C111bGLQ -iLlliUiUg front rim :3 and an outwardljv convex rear end wall 4. Seated in the rearcnd of the casino is a reflector 5 of that t vpe known as a Brennan mirror; this reflector being of well-known construction and serving to not only reflect the ray but fOlliOtllffv' their direction so that the rats emanating from a focal point arc l'(fli"'l-J4l and at the same time brought into parallelism with each other.

For the protection of the interior pa -is of the headlight, the front end of the i as f 5. closed by a plain glass or crystal o. whu h. as

usual enters through the lower side of the headlightcasing, rises vorricalfv tfurroin and terminates in if, burner tip focafod just below the focal point 5 of the headlight, so ,ihat flu burning jet will occupy this focal position. The burner in this instance is an acctylono gas burner, and a supply pipe 9 connects with thclowcr end of the burner nozzle nf'n point outside l c casing.

Describing now the dimming mechanism. 10 designates a rock-shaft journafcd to oxtend through a suitable cap-fiho bearing housing 11 mounted upon the exterior of tho casing, conveniently at a point soon-what below the horizontal diameter of the casing and so as to extend parallel with the a'xis of the latter. Conveniently said shaft is madc rectangular in cross section and has mounted thereon a pair of cylindric hubs 1; which are journaled between the housing cap H and the opposed side wall of the casing. Between the hubs 1') is mounted upon the shaft. 1() an arm 13, which carries'af its longer free end a circular concifvc reflector 1-1. This reflector is of such fiaincf'ci" lia! when sustained in axial ztlllltfllti'ih-i f 1h: focal point 8 of the headlight'it intdrqfcpt those rays whicl vould oth upon the mirror i subslaniinll.

"so impinge I thcm out through the. front light in a pencil or beam, the rays of whlclrare only moderately divergent and so that this beam of roller-led light is considerably more (ailment-re h(( l than the beam of direct light passing out through the fr0nt-glass., That is to say, the direct light is diflused over the angle comprised between the extreme margins ol' the front glass while the reflected light is concentrated to a considerably less angle, with the result that the central field of the headlight is guitelintensely illuminated yet without proucmg such a beam as to produce a glaring efi'ect, while the exterior portions of the field are illuminated sufliciently [or practical purposes. The arm 13 is provided with a crankarm extension 15,,to which'is attached an operating cable 16 which extends late-rally tof'andis' trained through a guide 17 so loicatda 9 cause the cable to draw at right an'l'esito the shaft 10. In the ,lower side of casing .is formed a pocket 18 which, when aria-. 3 is vin lowered position, receives it e major part of the reflector 1 1. "This, pocket is conveniently applied and attached to the exterior of the headlight in register with a slot opening 19 through the lower side of the latter, which admits the reflector to the pocket. Y I Y The operation of the-apparatus constructed as described will be entirely obvious from the foregoing description. Normally the reflector occupies its position in the'pocket and the light emanates from the focal point, part of itpassing directly through the front lass, and that which'emanates rearwardlyfieing reflected and refracted by the Mangan mirror into a beam of parallel rays. This latter beam gives the usual searchlight effect Whilethe direct light furnishes the side illumination.

Then it is desired to eliminate the glaring effect of the Searchlight beam, the operator simply draws on the cable 16 and raises the reflector 14 into operative position. ,lhe back light is thus cut offfronrthe.Mangan mirror and reflected as a beam of moderate divergence which does not produce the glaring effect in. the eyes of approaching ob-" servers.

It will be obvious that the details of con-- struction and arrangement may be somet what modified without in any sense departing. from the spirit of the invention.

-.l claim' as my invention:

I. In a headlight, the combination with a Slll flcctor in. the rear portion of the casing constructed to reflect the rays from a focal point in approximateparallelism, and. a movable reflector adapted to beinterposed between tln=. burnei' and main reflector'to modify the reflected beam of light.

. 2. In a headlight, the combination with a" Il'or modifying the reflected beam of light.

3. In a headlight, the combination with a suitable casing having an approximately c'ylindric interior, of a burner located axially of, and intermediate the, length of the cas ing, a Mangan mirror arranged in rear of the burner, and a concave reflector shilftab'ly mounted to move into and out of a position betweensaid mirror and burner.

4. In a headlight, the combination with a casing, of a burner located intermediate the length of the casing and two reflectors arranged in rear of the burner, one ol said 1'e-' flectors being movable into and out of positlon to screen the other lrom the burner.

5. In aheadlight, a casing, a burner, and

means arrangedbetween the rear of said casing and saidburner for alternatively;re

fleeting therearwardly extending rays ol' light as a parallel-ray beam or as a-divergr-mtray beam. v

6. In a headlight. a casing.aburner, and manually cont-rolled means arranged between the rear of said casing and said burner for alternatively reflecting the rea-rwardly table casing-oi a burner located inter-- mediate the length oi said casing, a main re extending rays of light as a parallel-ray beam or as a divergent-ray beam.

' RICHARD II. WELLES.

Witnesses:

ALBERT H. GnAvEs, EMILIE Rosa. 

